Vertical Venturer

In recent weeks, I've found myself standing perilously in mid-air with no prop of any sort holding me up. While it feels okay and strangely natural, each time, I immediately squat back down to crawling position to ensure my safety.



I've also noticed both parents staring at me alot more lately when I'm cruising around the house on whatever crutch is available. Not that its terribly abnormal, but Mom also seems to have more cameras at the ready these days too. I've been feeling like I'm on display and they are waiting for the Cooper show to start. Maybe they want me to dance? clap? point at various objects quizzically and repeatedly ask "whats that?" I've tried all of these tactics and the staring continues....sometimes it looks as though Mom has even been holding her breath. While its nice to be paid attention to, it was getting out of hand, and causing me much confusion trying to figure out what it was they wanted from me and how I could provide the best entertainment.


This weekend was apparently a monumental one, albeit seemingly normal to me. Outside of my becoming proficient at saying and signing "Doggy uh-oh," at the same time, which caused much fanfare from the parents, I have completed the task which I believe will satisfy their hungry eyes...


We had another session of "Go See Daddy/Mommy," its a game we play in our family where Mommy and Daddy will let me cruise to the other one while holding their hands (I'm sure no other families are aware of this ritual, I believe its original to our household). Anyways, I decided to switch things up for entertainment value and release their hands and cruise to the other one with no support.



My Goodness! You would have thought I just graduated from Yale with honors!



This led my mother both to hysterical tears and laughter, all the while clapping and cheering my name. Daddy hugged me and threw me up in the air and told Mommy to 'stop crying or I'd think something was wrong.' While I'm still confused at the potpourri of emotions, I think I did something quite important that will be a part of my life for a long time to come. After a few runs, I felt really confident and ventured away from our normal straight path and headed for the toy box. See video:



This post is dedicated to my ottoman, couch, music table, walker hippo, baby gate, chairs, drawers, and most of all...to my dearest and most loyal supporter, Shiner dog. All of you have been there to guide me through the perils of navigating this new world above my previous domain of one foot off the floor. I must thank you all for your support...I couldn't have made it through the past few months without you there to lean on.

My Birthday Bash

My first birthday was apparently reason for celebration. People just began coming over one day and I seemed to be the focus of their attention. Nolan came and tried to steal my new bike. I showed him and pulled it from his hands thus knocking his tiny self to the ground. I bet he won't be messing with any of my future rides.

Elmo and his girlfriend came too...aren't they a cute couple? A perfect match.

Cadence and McKalyn stared longingly at this strange rectangular celebratory object.

Grandpa stayed outside with the bigger kids, perplexed by their extreme intelligence and wit.

Here's me playing with some of my buddies, and Aunt Steph showing us that Josh does, in fact, have a face under all of that hair.

Note that we all require something in our hands at all times, preferably something we can also attempt to eat.

Mom gave me my own personal "cake" to tear into. I assumed it was intended as a hand lotion of sorts for dry baby hands but it didn't seem to nourish my skin very well. ....so I took the tiniest nibble and was pleasantly surprised to find it was sweet and delicious and obviously intended for my consumption. An added bonus was that the paints used for decoration could also be used as Native American war paint for my face. Little did I know that this paint doesn't feel great in the eyes. You live and you learn I suppose, something to remember for next year. Not only were my eyes burning from the paint, I felt a sudden surge of emotions like the cake had some chemical in it that provided me with a short period of bliss, followed by a quick dive into crankiness. I wanted no more of this and Mommy quickly obliged and placed me back on the floor with my friends and great new toys. Ryeland felt similar and, being too young to communicate properly, gave out a peace sign in the hopes things would calm down.

Once the excitement died down, I decided to retreat to my toy basket for a few moments of reflective thought. I pondered how it was possible to have so many friends close to my age that I can play with and how wonderful it is that my Mommy and Daddy can play with their parents too, what a deal. I am truly blessed.

Once everyone had gone, I collapsed out of sheer exhaustion and joy onto the floor.

What a great day! I am one lucky one year old.

Happy Birthday Aunt Nessa!

Remember last year when I was only a month old and I wore this hat for your birthday?

Well, since it did not quite fit last year, Mom had the novel idea to see if it was a better fit this year.....

I'm thinking ....not so much. I'm not really down with the cheesy birthday attire.

I gave Mom a taste of her own medicine and told her that if she wanted to wish my awesome Aunt Nessa Happy Birthday on her head, she was welcome to do it herself.

Now isn't that a better fit?

Happy Birthday from us, Nessa, we love you and are so glad you were born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Behind on blogging

Just like everyone else, babies get busy too. Life has just been hectic lately. What, with all of the kitchen utensils, stools, and puppy dog tails I have to inspect there's just not much time left for updating my blog.

Life is good, though. Being a one year-old comes with its perks. These adults realize we're not so fragile anymore and the tickling and chasing and romping around is 10 times more fun. I've made time to write you this in between feeding my dog his chew toy from my Elmo bowl and cleaning out the drawer under the stove. See! I have so many important tasks on my plate, who can blame me for being behind on things.

More to come soon...a lot has happened since the last post (like my awesome bday party with all of my best buds!).

Sorry for being a slacker, I must have inherited that trait from my Dad, because my Mom is never behind on anything.

Daddy made the cut-without Mom!!!!

The results of my haircut poll were pretty clearcut...The consensus was that I should just get a little trim.




As it turns out, the poll didn't really matter anyways since Daddy got a wild hair (pun intended) and took me to get my haircut without telling Mom. This was a big no-no apparently because it led to Mom crying. Note to new fathers: This may not be the best decision, new mothers consider this a very special event and like to be present for it.






Lucky for Dad and his well-being, he was thoughtful enough to take the camera along. After the tears had been cried and the words had been said, Mom was slightly thankful that it had been done without her having to be indecisive about how much to get cut, where to go, or whether to go at all so she finally granted forgiveness.

If I must say so myself, I think I look pretty dang cute.

The Mystery of visiting Mitch-again

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you're aware that I was due to take a plain trip (see previous post ). As it turns out, this trip was anything but plain. It started out with a ride in a gargantuan vehicle that was able to drive in the sky! Here I am before we left, staring out at the one which we rode in first.

The family made a big ordeal of the ride and kept staring at me when we were flying and asking if I was okay or if my ears hurt, and telling me in their cheeriest tones that I was such a trooper. Mom brought so much stuff for me, there were new snacks and tons of new toys I had never seen before! I got to play with them and eat snacks on this versatile fold-down tray which also served as a fun board for me to smack incessantly and wipe away all of its contents for Mom to lean down and pick up before they slid under the seats. She thought it was so fun! Gotta keep her entertained too.

Soon after arriving at my great-grandparents house, Cindy and Alyssa showed up from Illinois. Talk about fun people. Alyssa was my buddy on this trip, she and I got along so well, I just love her..and she's one of the first people I've met who seemed to really enjoy my attempt to claw their eyes out. What a sweetie! We got to spend a lovely evening outside (YES! These people had weather so nice that you could eat an entire meal out there without sweating!) having dinner and catching up with the family. My Northern family is really cool. No pun intended.

When we got to our hotel room, there was this really cute kid there waiting for me! My family is so sweet to plan to have someone there to keep me company. We had so much fun giving eachother high-fives and laughing hysterically. Too bad he wouldn't leave the bathroom area, it would have been nice to have him around the entire trip.


The next day, we went to a place Henry Ford founded called Greenfield Village. I was feeling a little under the weather, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked, but everyone else seemed to have fun. When we first arrived, this fellow with a banjo tried to sing itsy bitsy spider to me but I wasn't interested. The combination of my cold and the numbing effects of a full dose of Motrin left me lethargic. I stared blankly at him with no expression, but he just didn't take the hint. Luckily, Daddy was thoroughly entertained and enjoys being serenaded with children's songs.

Greenfield Village was so neat, there were houses and buildings from famous people all set up in a mock village. Henry Ford had them moved there so people could enjoy the history in them.

Can you find my Grandma in the following picture? We got to visit the Wright brothers bike shop and their house, too!
This is a quote from Orville Wright which I hope Mom will read and try to emulate in our home, so that I can experiment and create concoctions, and have fun with things...and possibly build my own airplane someday. This doesn't seem likely seeing as she pretty much stops breathing when Daddy even tries to re-create a fake airplane with me.

This was the Wright bros. highchair, it really makes me appreciate modern technology and the progress thats been made in the baby gear industry. Can you imagine how many poor babies must have had splinters in their behinds? And look, there's not even a safety strap to hold rambunctious children in place. The CPSC must not have even existed in those days. I'm so thankful for my plastic, adjustable height, moveable highchair with a 3-point safety belt. Thank you to all of the historical babies who endured so many hardships and helped make my highchair and other modern baby items what they are today!


This is me in a re-creation of an english cottage. Mommy thought I looked so funny in this old cottage in this modern stroller. She and Daddy talked to eachother in British accents the entire time we were inside. They're so easily amused. I kept myself entertained by throwing my sippy cup from my stroller onto the floor.

The next day , the group of us went to a place where you can throw extremely heavy balls on the floor to knock big white things over! It was exhilarating to watch! There was a lot of talk about "strikes," luckily Mommy is not one for conflict of any sort so she was never included in any of this striking discussion. Mom did so good playing this game, she got the ball in the little ditches nearly every try! Go MOM!!

Later, Great-Grandpa took all of us out to eat for Mommy's bday at a great restaurant that served flaming cheese! Seriously, they poured what I assume was gasoline on it and set it on fire! Unfortunately, the enjoyable food police (Mom) decided this was unfit for a baby (myself) to eat. Here's the great G'parents, Cindy, and myself at dinner. I am such a barrel of fun, I had the whole table in stitches. This dinner meant a lot to Mommy. :)


Later, we spent family time and everyone was so nice and got Mommy presents and got to eat cake. No fair. This is me and my beautiful Great Grandma, we are so lucky to have these genes in our pool. She took such great care of us and always made sure we were fed, comfortable, and happy. Mom and Grandma have a lot to live up to!

This is Great G'pa and Uncle Doug. They were so much fun and Great G'pa let me get into all of his stuff! He's such a smart guy and helped to ensure my college money was going to the right place. I'm destined for greatness if my Great G'parents brains and beauty are any indicator.

This is four generations and four drastically different haircolors.

I was so sad to leave after such a wonderful, memorable trip spent with this family that I love! We'll have to return again soon because I never even got to meet Mitch...or heard any mention of him.

P.S. Here is a terribly sad picture of Shiner, obviously in the throes of a deep depression, while we were gone. Thankfully, Mom had the best dog-sitter in the world take care of him.

No luck with my Neiman's/Gucci birthday registry?

I certainly don't mean to be presumptious and don't want anyone feel obligated to buy me a gift-but several people have asked my Mommy what I might want for my first birthday-and a few have requested I blog about it! So, I want to be helpful and give you some ideas so you're not wandering around aimlessly searching for something I might like. Chances are I'd like anything, including the proverbial box the gift came in, but I'll give you some hints anyways.

- I don't really watch much TV, but Dad sometimes sneaks in some episodes of the Wonder Pets, so they are currently the only real "characters," I'm into-although I'll surely love anything I'm introduced to.

-Bath toys (I've got some old animals that squirt water, but they're becoming a little boring).

-Clothes- I'm pretty much set for the summer, but if you want to help me remain fashionable through the next season, 18 month and up clothes would be great.

-Big boy jammies (18 months and up)- After being set free from the bondage of footed sleepers, these jammies have provided a newfound freedom for me, and an added bonus is that Mommy squeezes and cuddles me more because she thinks I'm so cute in them.

-A laptop-seriously, I want so badly to have my own after seeing Mommy and Daddy so wrapped up in whatever is on theirs. I know they make some that are a little more advanced for kids my age.

-This yacht. Any takers?

I hope my friends can make it to my birthday party! I love you guys!